Book of the Week

Jean Hodge

Bookmark in Spalding selects Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France as its Book of the Week.

In this wonderful biography – Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France – Nicholas Shakespeare pieces together his aunt’s experiences during the Second World War.

For Priscilla, pre-war Paris was an exciting carousel of suitors, soirées and heartbreak, and eventually a lavish wedding to a French aristocrat.

But the arrival of Nazi tanks signalled the end of life as a Vicomtesse and the beginning of a precarious existence under German Occupation.

Over half a century later Nicholas found a box of Priscilla’s notebooks and journals. He began investigating the rumours that she had escaped a prisoner of war camp and fought for the Resistance – and he finally unearthed the truth behind suspicions of disreputable love affairs and darker secrets.

Nicholas Shakespeare is a prize-winning novelist and biographer and his biography of his aunt draws on his talents in both genres.

Reviewers have called it ‘haunting’, ‘extraordinary’, ‘vivid’ and ‘gripping’ – get your copy today and find out why!

The book retails at £8.99 but there is a 20 per cent discount voucher in the Spalding Guardian of July 24.